An increasing number of devices are being connected to communication networks. Devices may be involved in machine-to-machine communication, or involved in machine-to-human communication, for example providing data for various services. Examples of devices are sensors, actuators, or other kind of peripheral electronics.
A device operating as a sensor may be connected to a communications network, where the device is delivering its sensor data via the network, in such a way that another machine or a user is capable to interpret the data. Sometimes an intermediate device is translating or converting the data, such that it becomes to a more suitable format for e.g. a human user. A communications network may be a small closed network, a group of closed networks capable to intercommunicate, an operator network or the Internet.
Devices of today are typically sold and delivered to normal consumers, with no or limited knowledge in communication networks. When a device is connected to a communications network today, a common procedure is to manually set-up, configure and operate the device or the network in order to enable communication and to enable exchange of device data over the communications network. A problem with the procedure of manual configuration and operation may be that it is both troublesome and invites risks for faults for a non-expert in communications networks. The manual procedure may introduce faults in the configuration of device and/or communication network. In the extension, the manual procedure may reduce the use of devices. A common expected growth of the number of device vendors may further increase the complexity for a non-network expert.
Another problem is how to automatically adopt or configure a communications network, such that a user configuration/input/intervention may be limited to a minimum, or completely avoided. Another problem is how to provide good data integrity and privacy, such that no unauthorized personnel may read or manipulate information or devices.